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History Lecture Series

British imperialist visions of Islamic States

This event took place on 3rd April 2019 at 4:30pm (15:30 GMT)
Berrill Lecture Theatre, The Open University, Walton Hall Campus, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom

From the mid-nineteenth century, men working in the highest levels of the British state, animated by the partition of the world among the imperial powers and fuelled by the idea of Britain as the ‘greatest Mohammedan power’, began to sketch out a vision for states under British tutelage in which Islam played a central role. This talk will trace the trajectories of these putative Islamic states in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, the role played by Muslim leaders in them, and explain how this British imperial manipulation of Islam ultimately failed.

‘This talk will explain how Britain’s imperial attempts to manipulate Islam in the nineteenth century ultimately failed.’

Can't join in person? Watch the event live online (link will be live before the event). If you are viewing the event by livestream, please do take the opportunity to have your questions answered by our speakers LIVE during the event by emailing: FASS-History-Lectures@open.ac.uk;


The webcast was open to 3000 users



(53 minutes)